Letter assembly



Feb; 22, 1944. BARBlERl 2,342,237

LETTER ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 21, 1941 I INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 22, 1944 LETTER ASSEMBLY Nicholas Barbieri, Providence, R. I., assignor to Uncas Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Rhode Island Application October 21, 1941, Serial No. 415,923

(Cl. iii-47.5)

Claims.

This invention relates to a portable unit assembly of letters or characters such as may be used for jewelry worn on the person such as a brooch, or it may be used in larger sizes for a counter display. The invention, however, in all cases is of a portable character and distinguishable from a permanent mounting or a large interchangeable mounting of letters such as theater marquees and the like.

The retail merchant heretofore in selling names, such as made up in brooches or other articles of jewelry, or in certain portable desk or counter words, has had to send to a manufacturer to make up these words by usually sawing the group of letters from a solid piece of stock. This requires specialized skilled work and is relatively expensive and a business that is of difiicult nature to handle.

One of the objects of this invention is to simplify the formation of a group of letters such as the name of an individual, by providing each of the letters formed in such a way that they may be assembled on a common element such as a bar.

Another object of the invention is to form the letters and their mount of a plastic material so that a solvent may be applied to make an integral unit and one in which the letters will not become detached, one from the other.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement which is sufficiently flexible to supply the demand so that a large amount of stock need not be carried on hand.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l. is a top plan view of a unit formed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear view with a pin stem, its joint and catch mounted thereon;

Fig. 415 a top edge view of the structure shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a section similar to Fig. 5 with the bar omitted;

Fig. 'l is a perjoective view of one of the letters; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of this letter assembled with the fragmental portion of a bar.

In proceeding with this invention, I mold Cir from some plastic material, such as Celluloid, a plurality of letters, each provided with a groove in its rear surface and I form a bar which will fit into this groove of the same material and then soften it sufficiently so that the surfaces of the bar and the walls of the groove weld together, or I may cement the surfaces together to form a single unit structure. formed in any length and cut 011 at the termination of the group of letters which are provided. The mounting means is assembled with the group of letters thus formed, and may consist of a pin stem joint and catch for the formation of a brooch while other mounting means may be provided for other uses as will of course be apparent.

With reference to the drawing, ill designates one of the letters, and by'the term letters I mean either letters of the alphabet, numbers or any characters. Each letter is formed by molding in the outline shape desired, and will have a front face ii and a back face 32, there being a groove is in the back face having side walls i 5 and it inclined away from each other as they proceed from the back face it inwardly, thus forming a dovetail slot when viewed in cross section, as shown in Figs. 5 and "3.

A bar such as designated it (see Fig. 8) is provided of an extended length and will also have its top and bottom surfaces is tapered so as to fit the groove is by reason of its edges iii engaging the edges it. Such shaping makes it desirable for each of the letters to be slid onto the bar, although the undercutting is so small that in; some instances there will be sufiicient resilience of the letters to permit of them being removed from the bar by springing of the stock suficient to be lifted therefrom. The depth of the groove is and the thickness of the bar H is such that when the bar is inserted in the groove as illustrawd in Figs. 5 and 8, the rear surface of the bar it will be flush with the rear surface 32 of the letters.

if it is desired to assemble the word Jenny," such, for instance, as on an individual order, I will put the letters 3 e n n y onto the bar it and then cut the bar at the end Ell to be flush with the edge H of the letter 7' and I will cut the end of the bar 22 on an incline so as to be flush with the edge 23 of the letter y. After this assembly has been formed any suitable mounting may be made for supporting the grouping thus formed.

In order to make a permanent assembly of the Celluloid bar and the Celluloid letters, I may dip The bars are the entire unit in a solvent for the Celluloid material or other plastic it used, and by reason oi! the solvent the edges of the bar will weld to the edges of the groove in which it is inserted so that for the letters l and a diflerent colored bar or a asaaear and the to weld the same together into an integral unit.

3. ilihe method 01 making to order a portable unit =hssembly of letters which consists in the step'ot pre-making a plurality 0! plastic letters with" groove in the back thereof, forming a plasticiebar of extended length to fit in said groove, 'a ssembling on order the selected group of letters on said bar and cutting the baron the completion of said assembly to the length necessary for mounting said group, and along the line of the terminal letters, and then applying a transparent bar II. It will of course be appareat that by reason of the individual parts going to make up the assembly that the color scheme may be varied for each of the letters or for some or the letters and the bar so that different con-- trasts may be provided.

I claim:

1. The method of making to order a portable unit assembly of letters which consists in the step of pre-making a plurality of plastic letters with a groove in the back thereof, forming a plastic bar of extended length to fit in said groove, assembling on order the selected group of letters on said bar and cutting the bar on completion of the assembly to the length necessary for mounting said group and then dipping the assembly in a solvent to apply said solvent to the jointbetween the letters and the bar to weld the same together into an integral unit.

2. The method of making to order a portable unit assembly of letters which consists in the step of pre-making a plurality of plastic letters with a groove in the back thereof, forming a plastic bar of extended length to fit in said groove, assembling on order the selected group of letters on said bar and cutting the bar to the length necessary for mounting said group, and then ap. plying a solvent to the joint between the letters solvent to the Joint between the letters and the bar to weld the same together into an integral unit.

4. The method of making to order a portable unit assembly oi letters which consists in the step of pre-making a plurality of plastic letters with a groove in the back thereof, form g a plastic bar of extended length to fit in said groove, assembling on order the selected group of letters on said bar and cutting the bar to the length necessary for mounting said group,' and then applying a solvent to the joint between the letters and the bar to weld the same together into an integral unit and applying a mounting to the back of said bar.

5. The method of making to order a portable unit assembly of letters which consists in the step of'pre-making a plurality of plastic letters with a groove in the back thereof, forming a plastic bar of extended length to fit in said groove, assembling on order the selected group of letters on said bar and cutting the bar to the length necessary for mounting said group, and then applying a solvent to the joint between the letters and the bar to .weld the same together into an integral unit and applying a pin stem joint and catch to the back of said bar;

NICHOLAS BARBIERI. 

